Twenty Years Later

CFGT as it looked in Sept 1991

In August 1988, I was traveling north with my father-in-law, my pastor and one of his staff to attend Duluth Gospel Tabernacle's annual summer convention. Linda and I were living in Whitewater in the southern part of the state at the time having just moved back from Illinois with the intent of planting a church in nearby Fort Atkinson. I went along on this ride north because my father-in-law offered to pick up the tab and my pastor suggested it would be good for me. After about four hours on the road, we pulled off of Highway 53 into a town I had never heard before – Chetek – in order to gas up. We pulled into a place called the Keg 'n Kork and while my pastor filled up, I got out to stretch my legs. He began sharing that the Fellowship of Christian Assemblies – the small network of independent churches that we belonged to -actually had a church in this town. I recall him mentioning the current pastor – John Tuttle – and the founding pastor – Runar Mattson – but what I remember most about that moment is that while he talked I looked down the main drag – Second Street – and distinctly said to myself, “I”d never want to live in a place like this.” That's a true story. I'm not making that up or embellishing it one iota. Three years later, on October 1, 1991 our little caravan consisting of me driving a 24-foot U-haul (and towing an 8 foot trailer) and Linda trailing in our Pontiac station wagon with Christine (3) and Charlie (1) nearly buried among all the other stuff we had managed to cram into it, pulled into Chetek to begin our ministry here.

The house at 636 Banks looks the same today

It was a Tuesday and we came into town around 7 P.M. four hours overdue. But the receiving crew consisting of Dave Cartwright, Art Harelstad and Dale Waterhouse were on hand to help us move in all the same. As I remember it was nearly 11 by the time we got the main stuff into the rented house at 636 Banks Street. We couldn't get our box spring up the narrow staircase and so later that week, we had to take the storms off of one of the upstairs windows and by rope and muscle lift it up to the second story. The next night – Wednesday – I met with the current board of trustees – Dave Cartwright, Art Harelstad, Arlie Schomburg, Dale Waterhouse and Randy Waterhouse. It must have just been an informal meeting because I have no agenda or notes from that gathering. But I do recall somewhere in our discussion asking a few practical questions. “Who does worship here?” There was an awkward silence, a few looks shared between the guys and then one of them timidly offered, “Well, Pastor John used to do most of the time.” “Okay,” I said. And then, “Who does youth?” Again, an awkward silence followed and then they informed me that the couple that had been leading youth fellowship had just left to do a Discipleship Training School in Montana. I was on my own here and starting with that meeting beginning to learn one of the realities of the small church: You are not the Senior Pastor; you are the Everything Pastor – preacher, Sunday School teacher, youth group leader, worship leader and, in a pinch, called on to sweep out the place. But the truth of the matter was I was so excited to be anywhere that taking on these responsibilities did not seem burdensome whatsoever. And so our ministry in Chetek began.

The sanctuary as it looked October 1991

The night of our installation

I would have to re-read all my journal entries from that first year or so or go through my board meeting agendas from the same time to reconstruct my mindset at the time. I'm pretty sure though I sincerely believed that with some leadership on my part and some sprucing up of the place and God's blessing (probably in that order), Chetek Full Gospel Tabernacle would begin to grow exponentially. The funny thing is that it did. During those first few months in Chetek we picked up a family a month – the Schaffs, the Kellens, the Knights, Rae Olson and her son, Aaron. In retrospect, that our weekly attendance grew by nearly 20 people a week had very little to do with me. Oh, God used that little growth spurt to put some confidence in this rookie pastor but I don't believe we weren't necessarily growing because of my efforts to grow it. I think I just lucked out and happened to be on post when these families were in search for a fellowship to call their own. Twenty years later, our attendance levels ebb and flow in 2011 pretty much as they did in 1991. - between 50 and 70 on any given Sunday. Like most fellowships in the United States of our size, we cannot seem to get past the 100-mark our best prayers and efforts to the contrary. Truthfully, I have come to the conclusion that much that was touted as “church growth” in the late 80s and all of the 90s were marketing ploys that only by chance made a few disciples and a lot of religious consumers and most of them lived in suburban America not in places like Chetek. Here I was trying to grow oranges in northern Wisconsin instead of taking care of the apple tree that others had left for me to nurture.

Christine, Charlie and I that first Christmas in Chetek

Refuge as it looks today, Oct 1, 2011

Well, that was then. I'm grateful that my best laid plans to put Chetek Full Gospel Tab on the map did not come to fruition. But with the loving patience of that congregation who invited me to lead them, some godly mentors, and a boatload of God's grace, I began to un-learn what I thought was required of me. It seems like I did a lot of un-learning those first years. I was going through my ABCs of on-the-job training and while I didn't get a lot of As, I managed to pass enough lessons to keep them retaining me. And two decades later that is another reality of ministry I've come to understand: if you keep showing up and loving those you are called to serve not as you want them to be but as they are, they'll hold on to you.

When I recall that inner monologue I had that day in 1988 I leaned against my pastor's Cadillac pulled up to the pump at the Keg 'n Kork, it always brings a smile to my face. I think it must put a smile on God's face, too. Now, truthfully, I can't imagine living anywhere else. I've been here long enough to see three of my four children graduate from Chetek (now Chetek-Weyerhaueser)HS, to buy our first home and totally remodel it (and some of it, twice!), to see Chetek Full Gospel Tabernacle embrace our new name – The Refuge International - to take part in launching new endeavors like The Garage and The Well and helping projects like the referendum of 1999 that brought nearly 10 million dollars worth of improvements to our school buildings become a reality. Those things are secondary, however, to the web of relationships that have developed between fellowships and individuals over that same span of time. So much, as I have come to appreciate, flows out of relationship – our relationship with God the Father and then our relationship with each other. We can do more together and if there is anything I am grateful for it's that network of life-giving relationships that enhance the contour of our lives here.

Runar and Ruth served here and our buried here

"There is a time to be born and a time to die"

Simply speaking longevity, I have now surpassed Runar Mattson, the founding pastor of our fellowship. He and his wife began their ministry in 1955 and he served faithfully until his untimely death on January 1, 1975. But remaining in Chetek is not about setting any kind of record. Ultimately, the bottom line is that if we have ministered here steadily for two decades it is because the Lord has sustained us and graced us to do just that. Brianna, the young woman who is currently living with us, said to me this morning: “I'm not living here 20 years, Pastor Jeff.” Yeah, I don't think she will either. But God has hard-wired my heart for this little place and twenty years from now if I am still here it'll be because God has continued to grace and sustain me with the ability to do just this. So until further notice, I will continue to echo the words of Psalm 16:

“LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup;
you make my lot secure.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
I keep my eyes always on the LORD.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” Psalm 16:5-8, NIV